Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

Space beneath the steeple, complete with spiral staircase, is now an office. The new First Church of Christ, Scientist worship space, below, is a fraction of the original size. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

This week, and right on schedule, lawyers, healthcare providers, a ribbon manufacturer and a boudoir photographer started moving into 211 Broad Street, the steepled structure that was a church for 62 years. Read More »

The Bento Box lunch special at Fuji in Shrewsbury. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

By SUSAN ERICSON

Our hearts skipped a beat five years ago when Trader Joe’s announced it would open a store in what was then called the Treasure Island Mall in Shrewsbury: we thought we’d never again see the inviting teak interior of Fuji.

This was before the Greater Red Bank Green caught up to the public appetite for sushi and became fairly saturated with Japanese, Asian and fusion-style restaurants. Fuji was one one of the few, and among the better. Fortunately, Trader Joe’s simply bumped the restaurant out of its spot in the Route 35 shopping center – and into one with a lighter, more organic decor. And the restaurant is as busy as ever, owner Jenny Chen-Ng tells PieHole.

The Piano Guys, above, make an encore appearance at the Count Basie Theatre on August 4. Veteran troubador Gordon Lightfoot, below, returns to Red Bank on August 6.

An up-close and in-person look at TV’s latest crop of primetime music American Idols. An area encore by a surprise sensation spawned via YouTube. And a raconteuring retrospective from a veteran who did it the hard way, along that endless highway…

It’s all lined up in the nights to come on the history-basted boards of Red Bank’s Count Basie stage.

Gary Close, age 43, from 10th Avenue in Belford, NJ, arrested on July 20, 2015 by Patrolman Adam Colfer for Possession of Cocaine, Possession of under 50 Grams of Marijuana, Possession of Drug Paraphernalia and on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Middletown Municipal Court. He was held on $13,000.00 bail set by Judge Richard Thompson.

Jamie Reynolds, age 30, from Carr Avenue in Keansburg, NJ, arrested on July 20, 2015 by Patrolman Brady Carr on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Keansburg Municipal Court. She was held on $500.00 bail.

Chicago Blackhawks player TrevorvanRiemsdyk, who grew up in Middletown, brought his own silverware to dinner in Rumson Thursday night: the Stanley Cup.

Van Riemsdyk’s team won this year’s National Hockey League championship over theTampa Bay Ligthning. The league allows each player on the winning team to take custody of the cup for a day, and the 24-year-old defenseman used his day to show off the cup to fans across Monmouth and Ocean counties – as detailed in this video by Shore Sports Zone – before ushering it by boat across the Navesink River to a private party at the Salt Creek Grille.

Among the more than 100 wellwishers on shore was Middletown resident Michael Kessig, a friend of van Riemsdyk’s older brother, James, who plays for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The excitement for the family was “through the roof,” Kessig said, after shooting a selfie with the trophy, above right. “Trevor got his shot this year, and we’re hoping James can have his soon, too.”

Being for the Benefit: Lincroft’s own Lucien Nocelli (right, as John Lennon) leads his Beatlemania Stage Show mates back to the Two River Theater on Sunday.

When he’s just being his own, talented self, Lincroft-based guitarist, singer, songwriter and music educator Lucien Nocelli plays and records as a fast-fingered fusion fretmeister. But whenever there’s a cause to be supported, Nocelli suits up as John Lennon – whether in “Ed Sullivan” era garb, colorful “Sgt. Pepper” uniforms or “Abbey Road styled apparel” – and puts out the call to his mates in the Beatlemania Stage Show.

Based on the long-running Broadway smash that framed the Fab Four’s music in period costumes and projected images of the tumultuous Sixties, the musical multimedia presentation has summoned the Beatles back into being every August for the past several years with a benefit show on the stage of Red Bank’s Two River Theater.

William Alexander (second from right) tells PieHole that eaters need to head to the West Side to find something besides pizza and bar food in Red Bank. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)

By JIM WILLIS

It was a dark and stormy cocktail that kicked off our dinner at Red Bank’s new B2 Bistro with a bang.

The bartender flipped opened the swing-top bottle of housemade ginger beer and it popped with a raucous expolosion that turned heads and captured the vibe of pent-up excitement that surrounded this West Side bistro’s opening.

Above is architect David Carnivale’s rendering of the six-unit condo building on Harding Road that would replace the previously planned market. Below, architect Cathy Zuckerman’s rendering of the condos proposed for Clay Street and Hudson Avenue. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Builder Ray Rapcavage has dropped his plan for a greenmarket as part of of a proposal to redevelop a block on the edge of downtown Red Bank, redbankgreen has learned.

In yet another in a series of revisions, plans filed with the borough show that instead of a 4,300-square-foot organic fruit and vegetable market fronting on Harding Road, Rapcavage now plans to erect six condos.

Pollstar magazine, the leading concert industry trade publication, has released its list of the top-selling live performance venues in the world – and Red Bank’s historic Count Basie Theatre has come in at number 40.

With sales of nearly 85,000 tickets through June 30, the Basie sold more tickets than some of the biggest theatres in the world; namely Radio City Music Hall, and the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The first half of 2015 falls in line with the Basie’s current three-year trend of escalating ticket sales, capacity percentage and show totals. In 2014, just over 213,000 people attended a Count Basie Theatre event, more than any previous year. And during its 2014-15 fiscal year, the venue operated at nearly 75 percent paid capacity — meaning that, on average, the theatre was three-quarters full for every event.

The casket bearing the remains of longtime borough merchant Laureano “Larry” Garmany, who died Saturday at age 62, arrives for funeral services at Saint James Roman Catholic Church in Red Bank Wednesday morning. Garmany’s namesake clothing store on Broad Street is visible in the background. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Rumson firefighters, slowed somewhat by a Cat construction vehicle parked in the driveway, quickly doused a fire that fully engulfed a custom-designed wooden play set in the backyard of a newly completed home at 10 Sailers Way Tuesday evening, Fire Chief Kevin McCarthy tells redbankgreen.

The cause of the blaze could not be determined but is not considered suspicious, he said. Monmouth County property records indicate the home is owned by Anthony Diaco. Rumson, Oceanic and Fair Haven volunteers responded to the 6:49 p.m. alarm, McCarthy said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Layonne Holmes leads the New Standard Jazz Ensemble in a Thursday local debut at Riverside Gardens. Trumpeter Jon Faddis plays the Two River Theater’s Summer Jazz Café Friday.

Whether you’re a serious jazz aficionado – you know, the kind who hears a record and can name the session date, all of the players, and what they had for lunch – or simply one who digs all that a sophisticatedly swinging set does to the general mood, you’ve got to appreciate the fact that it’s been a July to remember, jazzwise, in Red Bank.

This weekend sees the final entry in the 2015 Summer Jazz Café series at Two River Theater, while the music plays on at Riverside Gardens during the free Thursday night slate of Jazz in the Park concerts; all of it programmed by borough-based Jazz Arts Project and artistic director Joe “Mooche” Muccioli.

With temperatures headed toward the high 80s, John Cushing of Bayonne rolled on with his work Tuesday, painting curbs outside the Toast restaurant under construction in the former Broadway Diner on Monmouth Street in Red Bank.

The National Weather Service said Tuesday was the first of at least seven consecutive days in which peak daytime temperatures were expected to be close to 90 degrees. (Click to enlarge)

Students of Red Bank Regional’s Visual and Performing Summer Camp learn steps for the musical HOLLYWOOD HILLBILLIES, premiering August 6 at the school auditorium.

Press release from Red Bank Regional High School

Back to School time may be another month away, but on Thursday, August 6, the students Visual and Performing Arts Summer Camp program at Red Bank Regional High School will be eager to take the school stage, as they present the musical comedy Hollywood Hillbillies. Inspired by the TV classic Beverly Hillbillies, the show (book by Tim Kelly, with music and lyrics by Scott Keys) features a comical collision of simple American mountain folk with Hollywood types, and nefarious oil and gas-seeking interlopers.

Over 70 students will take part in the musical production, and a special preview art exhibit will feature the creative art work of other campers.

Laureano “Larry” Garmany, a high-end clothier whose sizable investments in downtown Red Bank helped fuel its recovery from economic torpor back to prosperity in the 1990s, died Saturday.

No cause of death was given in an obituary published late Monday, but friends said the 62-year-old Colts Neck resident suffered a stroke early on the day he died.

Garmany, a Cuban immigrant-turned-retailer, bet heavily on Red Bank when it was widely derided as “Dead Bank,” and continually upped his stake in the town. His crowning achievements: transforming the vacant former Steinbach’s department store on Broad Street into a 40,000-square-foot clothing store bearing his name, and luring Tiffany & Co. to be its next-door neighbor.

Closing existing stores in New York City and Summit, “he took all his marbles so to speak and put them into one basket at a time when things weren’t looking so good for Red Bank,” former Mayor Ed McKenna said Monday. “His faith in our ability to resurrect the town was, for me personally, a real show of confidence, and made me feel better about the vision we had for bringing Red Bank back.”

Brothers and former major leaguers Jeff Frazier (who played seven years with the Tigers, Marlins and Nationals) and Charlie Frazier (six years with the Marlins) of Frazier Baseball put on a batting clinic for about 100 kids at Count Basie Fields in Red Bank Monday morning – and waived the $99 fee for about two dozen boys and girls from the borough rec department’s spring softball and baseball squads, said department Director Tamila Bumback.

The borough teams “don’t have a history of being very strong,” Bumback told redbankgreen, “but we’re looking to improve, and this should help.” (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Under clear skies and much appreciated low heat and humidity, Fair Haven Fields was transformed into a tent city for the borough’s annual Camp Out Saturday night. There, we found fourth-grader Laughlan Forster, above, who told us he was “so excited” about his first-ever camp-out.

redbankgreen paid a visit as families bearing pillows, blankets, bug spray and teddy bears set up for night out on the playing fields.

He wasn’t the only one. Click the ‘read more’ to see s’more happy campers. (Photos by Susan Ericson. Click to enlarge)

“Weird Al” Yankovic brings his Mandatory World Tour to the Basie stage on Tuesday night…while Rob Thomas returns to station stop Red Bank for another two-night stand on Friday and Saturday.

Don’t look now, but not only has “Weird Al” Yankovic scored the first Billboard popchart-topping comedy album in all of human history — and not only has the MTV-era novelty act entered his fourth decade of performing with the polished legitimacy of three Grammy awards — but his amiable brand of parody has far outlasted the prime-time careers of many of those whose momentary hits he tweaked for posterity.

It’s a growing group that includes Toni Basil, Gerardo, Men Without Hats, the Offspring, Tiffany, Tone Loc, and (arguably) Usher, Beck, and Madonna. With his accordion as his axe, the artist brings his Mandatory World Tour to Red Bank’s Count Basie stage on Tuesday, July 28, still surfing the momentum generated by his year-old Mandatory Fun album and its savvy takes on hits by Pharrell Williams, Iggy Azalea and Lorde. Read More »

“Iron Cowboy” James Lawrence, seen above in Sea Bright on July 4, successfully completed his 50-50-50 campaign to do a record 50 triathlon-length workouts in 50 states in 50 days Saturday, according to news reports. He wrapped up his effort, aimed at calling attention to childhood obesity, in his home state of Utah.

Lawrence’s 29th day began at Sandy Hook and ended more than 15 hours later in Sea Bright. Click here to readredbankgreen’s coverage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

Wondering about the fate of Red Bank’s clay tennis courts in Marine Park, and whether they’ll be saved or replaced by either of two competing proposals to develop the waterfront site?

After nearly two months of silence, the borough parks and rec committee is expected to discuss the issue Monday night, when it could issue its non-binding recommendation to a trio of council members – Linda Schwabenbauer, Kathy Horgan and Ed Zipprich.

The councilmembers, in turn, are expected to meet Tuesday night in a closed session to “score” three proposals, one of which calls for keeping the courts, according to criteria set out in bids. They’ll also weigh comments made at a public forum held in May and afterward, said Schwabenbauer, who expects the committee to make a recommendation to the full governing body by the end of August, she said Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

Brian Kavanagh, age 49, from Swimming River Road in Colts Neck, NJ, arrested on July 14, 2015 by Patrolman Ryan Riffert for Disorderly Conduct. He was released pending a court date.

James Cook, age 53, from North Washington Avenue in Wilkes Barre, PA, arrested on July 14, 2015 by Patrolman Christopher Dee on a Contempt of Court warrant issued by the Middletown Municipal Court. He was released after posting $1,000.00 bail.

What’s Lunch Meet? Created by borough resident and redbankgreen webmaster Kenny Katzgrau, it’s a loose assemblage of epicures in which any member can suggest a get-together, whether it be for lunch, happy hour or dinner. It’s all coordinated through the group’s Facebook page.

This meetup was called by another Red Banker, Tom Musumeci. No one attending had eaten at Delfini before, but everyone came away impressed by the fresh ingredients and array of choices.

Red Bank auditor David Kaplan, seen here in 2014, said the borough’s financial strength improved last year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Debt is down, cash is up, and the outlook for Red Bank’s finances is much improved, the borough auditor told town officials Wednesday.

Delivering the results of his 2014 audit in the form of a 139-page report [see link below], auditor David Kaplan said the current-account balance, from which the town pays most of its bills, was $1.62 million at year-end, up, $164,500 from a year earlier, and that bonded debt dropped to $17.3 million, down from $19.6 million.

“Obviously, that doesn’t happen by magic,” Kaplan said, referring to the current account surplus.